Brian McDonald
I am driven by a need to make sense of the world around me, which I see as fragmented, contradictory, and anxious. I seek to capture the cartoonishness that runs through American society wherein the individual is not only bombarded by an excess of choice, information, and rampant consumerism, but is also in a constant state of wanting more. Flotsam from this perpetual cycle of consumer pop culture is woven into my paintings, embedding my figures in an intricate web that suggests the non-stop movement of the mind, as well as the depth, complexity, and interconnectedness of life.
My work is influenced by music, cartoons, and dreams: I am fascinated with their spatial, temporal and structural components which I see as analogous to contemporary consciousness. I work primarily with layers of paint and collage that are woven together to create a dense network of relationships ripe with narrative possibilities. By using disparate and often ambiguous images, the flow of ideas becomes disrupted, meaning is subverted, and logic is obfuscated. My work becomes infused with an elusive visual poetry that seeks to inspire viewers to make their own connections based on personal associations.
